"We had just moved to another state, and my husband was trying to start his own business, so money was very tight. All three of my children were in sports, so we traveled a lot to their events. In order to save money, I decided to boil some hot dogs to feed my bunch before their games. I packed the bread, hot dogs and condiments in our van and proceeded to pick everyone up from school.

"Then I drove through a fast-food place and got a large cup of free ice to split between the kids for the drinks that I had brought from home. We parked the van and began to get all the food out of their containers. As I went to get the hot dogs, I realized I had placed the boiled hot dogs in a narrow-mouthed thermos to keep them hot. To our horror, the hot dogs were stuck in the thermos because (the hot dogs) had continued swelling after I had taken them out of the boiling water!

"My husband was proud of me for trying to save money. However, he had to literally dig the dogs out of the thermos in pieces. We did eat, but I never again tried to keep (hot) hot dogs in a small-mouthed thermos. It was a cheap meal that kept us together and happy, and no one was late for their games!"

-- Brenda from Florida